Fourier descriptors are a way of encoding the shape of a two-dimensional object by taking the Fourier transform of the boundary, where every point on the boundary is mapped to a complex number.
Fourier descriptors are a way of encoding the shape of a two-dimensional object by taking the Fourier transform of the boundary, where every point on the boundary is mapped to a complex number. The original shape can be recovered from the inverse Fourier transform. However, if only a few terms of the inverse are used, the boundary becomes simplified, providing a way to smooth or filter the boundary.